Budget 2018-19

  The agency said the suspension – which put the EUA application on ice – was due to missing data from the vaccine’s clinical trials As controversy over the $324-million deal for 20 million doses of Covaxin with Brazil brews, on Monday some reports pointed out that the Brazilian regulator had not granted Bharat Biotech — the makers of Covaxin — emergency-use authorisation (EUA). The Hyderabad-based company’s website noted that on June 4, ANVISA — the Brazilian regulator — had authorised the “exceptional import of  Covaxin  by the health ministry for distribution and use under controlled conditions”. This is a departure from the June 30 press statement wherein the company had clarified it had not received any money from Brazil’s health ministry. On Monday, NDTV reported that ANVISA “suspended the deadline for evaluating the application for emergency use of Covaxin”. The agency said the suspension — which put the EUA application on ice — was due to missing data from the vac...

  AIIMS survey finds over 50% children had asymptomatic Covid infection It’s highly unlikely that any future wave of Covid-19 by the prevailing variants of coronavirus will disproportionately affect children aged two years or older, a serosurvey conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, has found. This comes against the backdrop of a number of officials and health experts raising an alarm about the possible third wave affecting children more than adults. AIIMS collected data between March 15 and June 10, 2021, from 4,509 participants across four states, of which 700 were less than 18 years of age and 3,809 were above it. The interim study found seroprevalence (the prevalence of Covid antibodies) in 55.7 per cent of those between 2 and 17 years of age, and in 63.5 per cent of those above 18. “There was no statistically significant difference in prevalence between adults and children,” the study said. A large proportion of children had asymptomatic...

  Accounts for over 20% of samples sent for genome sequencing Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday that the B.1.617 variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, has become the most common mutation detected so far, and was found in more than 20 per cent of samples sent for genome sequencing. Vardhan was speaking at the 27th high-level meeting of the Group of Ministers on Covid-19. He said 25,739 samples have been sequenced and variant B.1.617 has been found in 5,261 samples. “States have been requested to send samples regularly for better analysis,” he added. B.1.617, which has been termed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been found to be moderately resistant to antibodies and is highly transmissible, but has low severity among those who are vaccinated, according to a molecular study. The strain was detected in Maharashtra towards the end of 2020 and spread throughout India and to at least 40 countries. Sharing details of  mucor...

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 4.72 crore with 19,65,635 doses being given on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said. The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 4.72 crore with 19,65,635 doses being given on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said.A total of 4,72,07,134vaccine doses have been given till 7 pm on Monday, according to a provisional report. These include 78,30,626 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 49,30,888HCWs who have taken the second dose, 81,72,121frontline workers (FLWs) who have received the first dose and 27,93,013FLWs who have taken the second dose. Besides 1,94,07,739beneficiaries aged above 60 years and 40,72,747 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 with specific co-morbidities have been administered the first dose. “Total 19,65,635vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Monday, the sixty-sixth day of the nationwide  COVID-19 vaccination . Out o...

  Health personnel succh as doctors and nurses and frontline workers such as police personnel, home guards won’t have to register themselves online to get the vaccine The health ministry is prepared to roll out the Covid vaccine within 10 days of the emergency use authorisation, which was granted to two companies on January 3. While giving this information on Tuesday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told reporters that the final date would be decided by the government. The roll-out is being planned, including the logistics and technology network, based on the feedback from the recent dry run of the vaccination process, according to Bhushan. Aadhar verification too will be a part of the online vaccine delivery platform Co-Win. Addressing the weekly briefing on Covid, Bhushan said health workers including doctors and nurses as well as frontline workers such as police personnel and home guards would not have to register on the online platform to get vaccinated. Their data has already ...

  It has become clear that the special trains operated by the government to ease suffering – and to counteract a disastrous lack of lockdown planning – played a significant role in spreading the virus The crowds surged through the gates, fought their way up the stairs of the 160-year-old station, poured across the platforms and engulfed the trains. It was May 5, around 10 a.m. Surat was beastly hot, 106 degrees. Thousands of migrant laborers were frantic to leave — loom operators, diamond polishers, mechanics, truck drivers, cooks, cleaners, the backbone of Surat’s economy. Two of them were Rabindra and Prafulla Behera, brothers and textile workers, who had arrived in Surat a decade ago in search of opportunity and were now fleeing disease and death. Rabindra stepped aboard carrying a bag stuffed with chapatis. His older brother, Prafulla, clattered in behind, dragging a plastic suitcase packed with pencils, toys, lipstick for his wife and 13 dresses for his girls.“You really think...

  India has reached a recovery rate of 90 per cent and the positivity rate has declined to around 7.61 per cent. The central government on Tuesday asked states not declare any place free of the coronavirus and take a national approach to a future vaccine, reacting after free inoculation politics gathered pace in Bihar and Tamil Nadu. “The statements of the state governments have to be respected. From our end we are trying to fine tune the blueprints for vaccine distribution. Preparations are being made,” said V K Paul, member of  NITI Aayog  and chairman of the government’s committee on vaccines. Paul’s statement came as the number of coronavirus cases in India in a single day dropped below 40,000 on Tuesday after over three months. Paul said resources will not be an issue when it comes to accessing the coronavirus vaccine, reacting to a question on whether the inoculation will be free. “Prioritisation will be done based on availability. Vaccine scenario is very dynamic a...